ABBA have the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest to thank for the start of their fame and fortune, with their entry "Waterloo" winning the contest and becoming the Swedish band's first major hit.

ABBA songs now appear to be even more popular than they were back in the 1970's and 80s, and there's no doubting that the quartet are up their as one of the greatest pop groups of all time.

A combination of catchy melodies, memorable lyrics and great production techniques have lead to 370 million albums being sold World-wide, and they continue to sell around 2 to 4 millions albums every year!

ABBA is actually an acroynyn formed from the first letter of the names of the band members'; Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Anna-Frid.

The music of ABBA was used for the 2005 musical "Mamma Mia" and also the hit movie version which was released in 2008.

The Swedish band released eight studio albums; "Ring Ring" (1973), "Waterloo" (1974), "Abba" (1975), "Arrival" (1976), "The Album" (1977), "Voulez-Vous" (1979), "Super Trouper" (1980) and "The Visitors" (1981). The last five albums all reached No.1 in the UK.

ABBA also released countless compilation albums, and these regularly appear in the album charts.

Of course, then we have the singles. There were so many that you often forget about some of them! My personal favourites are "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and "The Winner Takes It All", Although, like so many people, I enjoyed ALL of their singles!

For oodles of ABBA info, piccies, music and more, visit the official website by clicking on the photo below:

ABBA's Top Five Best-Selling Studio Albums

1. Arrival (1976)

2. The Album (1978)

3. Super Trouper (1980)

4. Voulez-Vous (1979)

5. The Visitors (1981)

Super Trouper

Released in November 1980, the title track from the album was the ninth and final No.1 for ABBA in the UK. Super Trouper refers to the giant spot light used in stadium concerts. However, the original name for the song was "Blinka lilla stjärna"or "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in English.

Take A Chance On Me (1978)

This is one of ABBA's more memorable 70s videos, mainly because of the outfits that Agnetha and Anna-Frid were wearing - I can't get out of my mind the disturbing images of Andy Bell and Vince Clarke dressed as the girls in the Erasure video!

Reaching #1 in the UK (#3 in the U.S.), Take A Chance On Me
was ABBA's eleventh Top 10 single in the UK and the second track to be
released from the Swedish band's fifth studio album, simply entitled The Album. The single was the follow-up to The Name Of The Game which had also reached #1 in the UK (#12 U.S.).

The song was released at the same time as ABBA: The Movie,
which I remember going to see back in the 70s, at Stratford-Upon-Avon
cinema (with my Mum and my best friend from primary school) when I was
about 10 years old. My friend wasn't really an ABBA fan but ended-up
enjoying the movie more than I did!

I do remember that the film focused on some guy struggling to get a decent live recording of the band. It was an okay sort of movie (I've seen a lot worse!) but movies featuring pop bands rarely set the World alight do they?

ABBA certainly won't be remembered for creating imaginative videos, and the one for Chiquitita is pure 70s cheese!

But, thankfully, the song is beautiful and this was one of ABBA's biggest hits, and was the first track to be released from the Voulez-Vous album.

The song was number one in numerous countries across the globe, but was kept off the top spot in the UK by Blondie's Heart of Glass, peaking at #2. Half of the royalties from the song went to the charity Unicef.

ABBA - Fernando (1975)

As with Chiquitita, this is another 70s ABBA video that is nothing special and mainly features shots of the band, but it's yet another powerful and emotional song, which is far more important.

Fernando was Abba's first non-album single of the 70s and was released in November 1975. Lead vocals were sung by Anni-Frid Lyngstad and the song was actually written for her solo album Frida Ensam (which reached No.1 in Sweden during 1975) by Benny and Bjorn.

The track appeared on Abba's Greatest Hits album in 1976in some countries. However, in Australia and New Zealand Fernando was included on the group's Arrival album.

ABBA at the Premier of the hit movie "Mamma Mia" at Stockholm in July 2008

That's Me

That's Me was released as a single in Japan during 1977, with Money Money Money as the B-side. Everywhere else in the World That's Me was the B-side to Dancing Queen (which was released in 1976), that I used to play over and over as a kid.